


The Twist in Time

by irishfino



Series: Daddy Blues [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eobard Lives!AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-05-28 16:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6337489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishfino/pseuds/irishfino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eobard lives!</p><p>In a twist of time, Eobard Thawne as Harrison Wells raises Jesse Wells as if she were his own child. This twist affects everything he's trying to do in Central City, culminating in the day the Singularity nearly ate Central City.</p><p>The Team is wary with Eobard around and things get much stranger when Harrison Wells from Earth-2 arrives on the scene.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For Jesse

                Just before the Singularity

 

                “I’m sorry, Jesse.”

                It was time to go home, time to go back where and when he belonged. He’d come to terms with it, Jesse was de – was the past, after all. She looked up at him, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears and said nothing.

                “I’m sorry.”

                He climbed into the time-sphere after _his_ helmet slid through the wormhole. It was time to go home. He ignored the doubt bubbling deep in his gut. No takebacks, this had been the plan all along. Fifteen years. Fifteen years raising Jesse – no, watching Barry, practically raising him. No time for regrets. No time at all. Then, in a flash, Barry, the-boy-who-never-did-what-he-was-told, came through the wormhole, fist aimed straight for the time-sphere. He gave that boy everything and this was how he repaid him? He would beat sense into him, even if it meant killing him and everyone he ever loved!

                “After I kill you, I’m going to kill them!”

                _Except Jesse._

                He vibrated his hand as hard as he could and –

                “Daddy! _STOP_!”

                Jesse. His one weakness in this time. His conscience. His daughter. He _was_ Harrison Wells to her, even after Team Flash exposed every bit of who he really was inside.

                Barry moved suddenly, shoving his former mentor and friend hard to one side. He felt why a moment later and heard Jesse scream “Daddy, no!” She only called him daddy when she was upset.

                Barry left him standing there, holding his side, trying to keep the blood in. He heard metal clatter to the ground and Barry yell “Eddie, stop! It’s over!” He didn’t care what was said after that. He didn’t care about his fresh bullet wound; he would heal quickly, he always did. He only cared about Jesse. As he pulled his cowl off and turned to look at her, the Singularity reopened, ravenous and raging. He and Barry exchanged looks before speeding away, each carrying a loved one. Jesse. His sweet Jesse didn’t acknowledge him after he set her down in the Cortex.

                “I’m so sorry,” he tried to convey with his eyes, but she didn’t look at him a moment longer than she had to. He accepted this and sped away and outside. He ignored the strain he was putting on his body and his connection to the Speed Force. The Singularity was devouring Central City, Jesse’s home.

                “I have to try,” he heard Barry say.

                Not alone.

                Eobard stepped up to Barry and put a hand on his shoulder. Neither looked at the other; their focus was the gaping maw above the city.

                “When I die,” he yelled over the speeding winds, “take care of Jesse for me.”

                Barry looked at him then, but he simply replaced his cowl and let his eyes burn red.

                For Jesse.

                If this was his last race with the Flash, so be it. Neither could truly kill the other, they were halves of the same whole. Up, up, up they went, dodging debris and using other chunks of building to launch themselves further and higher until they reached the event horizon. He pushed himself and ignored the burning and tearing that spiraled from the bullet wound throughout his body.

                For Jesse.

                Firestorm separated in the eye of the Singularity and completed the disruption he and Barry had started. The event horizons, both inner and outer, were combined and it was over. He had almost let go when he spotted Ronnie plummeting to the Earth headfirst, presumably unconscious. One more good deed before he left. One more good memory for Jesse to cling to for the rest of her life if only to let her rest a bit easier each night.

                For Jesse.

                He made it back to S.T.A.R Labs as intact as he could be. He caught up to Barry and Stein and placed an unconscious Ronnie on Stein’s left. He pulled his cowl off as the group ran up to them. Jesse was nowhere in sight. It was probably for the best. He wrapped an arm around his torso and coughed; blood splattered to the ground. He’d torn himself apart to save Jesse. It was enough. He allowed himself to collapse, to give up, to give in, his final thought: “For Jesse.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard is locked in the pipeline. Barry wants him to turn himself in for murder.

                “Get my dad out of prison!”

                Eobard’s barely conscious on the floor of his cell when Barry starts in with that business again. They were kind enough to sort of mostly patch him up before they tossed him in here. Still, there’s a crick in his neck from the awkward angle he slumped into after they dumped him in there. It’s irritating. Speedsters don’t get cricks in their necks. Barry’s pounding on the glass and now he’s got a headache.

                “Shut up for five seconds!” he snaps at the boy. He rubs his neck. This really hurts. He’s not healing. No, scratch that, he _is_ healing, but as a normal human. Dammit.

                “I want you to confess,” Barry says. He’s quite serious, too. It’s endearing.

                “Yeah, I’m not going to do that,” he says baldly.

                “Yes, you are!” Barry hits the glass again. Eobard can’t help but smirk. He’s the one trapped in this little cell, but Barry’s his prisoner.

                “No, I’m not.” He already has a plan. “However, a thought occurs. You were able to have charges dropped against Eddie Thawne by using video proof of a metahuman who could become any person.”

                And there it is. The realization on the boy’s face. He could’ve had his father out of prison much sooner if he had thought to use the S.T.A.R. Labs security footage of the night they tried to capture the Reverse Flash. Or the footage of him and Barry fighting. A little creative editing and no one would have seen anything but two balls of lightning fighting each other. Then Barry’s face hardens.

                “No, you’re not tricking me _again_ , **_Thawne_** ,” the boy practically spits. “You confess. You get my dad out of prison or you’ll never see Jesse again.”

                He’s on his feet in an instant and at the glass separating them.

                “Don’t.” It’s more a plea than a demand and Barry knows it from the smirk on his smarmy little squirrel face. Damn him.

                “Confess to the police.”

                “No, I’m not going to do that, Allen.” Barry’s got him by the short hairs. He rubs the back of his neck and sighs. “Look, Barry, all you have to do is introduce this new evidence. There will be a new trial and then introduce reasonable doubt.”

                “That’ll take months!” Barry argues.

                “What you want me to do isn’t instant, Barry!” he shouts. “You should know better by now; you work with law enforcement.”

                “I want my dad free.”

                “You’ve been patient this long, Barry. Trust me.” Barry’s laugh is harsh and loud. Okay, he’s asking a little much, but, come on. “Have I ever, even once, pointed you the wrong way on one of your missions as the Flash?”

                “That doesn’t count,” Barry says harshly.

                “Why not?”

                “’Cause it doesn’t,” Barry replies petulantly.

                “We do this my way or not at all.”

                Barry straightens up and slams his fist on the glass again. “No! I want justice for my mother!”

                Eobard is quite sick of this boy’s whining. Always “me, me, me” and “waah, you killed my mom and sent my dad to prison, waaaah.” What an ungrateful child. He steps to the edge of the cell, braces his body on the side walls, then leans his lean body down until he and Barry are eye to eye.

                “I can never go home and your mother will never breathe again. I'd say, we’re even,” he says coldly.

                “I hate you,” Barry spits.

                “Good.”

                Then Barry’s gone and he’s alone in the pipeline again. He swears the cell jerks harder than usual when he loses his balance and falls face first into the tented doors. He can hear Cisco laughing from here. It doesn’t matter. He’s not going to confess to murdering Nora Allen. Collateral damage and all that. And it would put further pressure on Jesse if it comes out her father is an actual on purpose murderer rather than a careless scientist who thought the risk was worth the knowledge. He would do anything to spare her more pain.


	3. A Knife Would Feel Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard is released from his cell after days of nanite injection.

                There are few things Eobard has experienced that can bring him to his knees. This is one of those things. Jesse, his Jesse, is the one who injects him with nanites every eighteen hours. She’s clinical, he can give her that. She doesn’t look at him, doesn’t touch him more than she absolutely needs to. God, he just wants to hug her. But he doesn’t. He makes himself as small as possible in her presence. He tries not to stare at her. He doesn’t talk. He lets her do what she needs to do. It’s the most painful shot he’s ever received and he’s not a fan of needles to begin with.

                He knows why the team does it this way. Though he no longer has reason to hurt any of them, they believe their best bet is to send his own daughter because he would never hurt her. It’s rational. And cold.

                He’s released from his cell as soon as the others are convinced he has enough nanites in his system to prevent him from vibrating them out. He doesn’t care. He just wants Jesse to look at him with some sort of emotion. She’s blank around him, irritatingly so, but he understands. It hurts, but he understands.

                He walks through the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs as he did pre-explosion: his hands are clasped behind his back and his steps are swift and sure. He steps into the Cortex and looks at each of the people gathered there. Joe is there, of course, along with Cisco, Caitlin, Ronnie, and Stein. He doesn’t look at any of them longer than he has to. His focus is drawn to a screen toward the rear of the room which happens to be beaming the scruffy façade of Oliver Queen. How interesting.

                “Well,” he says, “the gang’s all here.”

                Cisco scoffs and turns away. That hurts almost as much as Jesse. Almost.

                “I’m here to get your recordings of the Man in Yellow,” Joe states.

                “And?” Eobard asks. If they ask him to turn himself in and confess, they’ll never hear another word from him as long as he lives.

                “And for you to provide a plausible explanation in case the DA asks for it.”

                “What files will I have access to?”

                “All of them,” Cisco says.

                “Then you’ll have all you need in five days. In the meantime, where’s Jesse?”

                “Home,” Barry says from behind. Snuck up on him. Good boy.

                Eobard glances at him over his shoulder. “Thank you.”

                “Shut up, Thawne.”

                Oh well.


	4. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jesse confronts Eobard.

                Eobard spends three days in the Cortex minding his own business and building a case strong enough to get Barry’s father out of prison. If things had been different, if Jesse had never been born, he would never have bothered with this nonsense. They’d all be dead and he’d be home. End of fucking story. Instead this damn story continued and he couldn’t find himself regretting much of it.

                “Dad,” comes a voice from behind him. He’d recognize her voice anywhere. It’s his Jesse. “Or should I call you Eobard Thawne.”

                He flinches. It’s as if she’s taken her hand and shoved it straight into his heart.

                “Don’t,” he says hoarsely, “don’t call me that.”

                “What should I call you then? You’re not my dad.”

                “I am.” He twists his chair around and stares at her. This hurts. His face twists pathetically, but her face remains blank. He wants her to be strong, but not like this. Never like this.

                “Did you ever want to kill me?”

                “Yes,” he says softly. Finally, her face changes. She’s resigned. “I had just met you. The frazzled sitter shoved you into my arms and started chattering at me right away. When you quite correctly guessed that I wasn’t quite the same father who had left you days earlier, I had the thought that I could kill you both, make it look like an accident.” He huffs out a laugh at the memory. He’s near tears remembering the second time she spoke to him. “You called me ‘da’ and I knew I had to protect you.” He sighs. “You were so… cute.”

                “You murdered my parents,” Jesse whispers. “Without a second thought and in cold blood, you killed my mother and father because you failed to kill a child. And you killed Barry’s mother. Why should anyone trust you? I wish you were dead.”

                He just nods. He takes every bit of her anger, her disappointment, her sorrow. It’s all he can do for her now.

                “Don’t ever talk to me again, Thawne.”

                Some people, when they break, nothing can put them back together again. Some people heal even stronger. For him, it remains to be seen, but he is broken and alone. And it’s his own damn fault.


	5. Stubborn Speedsters Are a Dime a Dozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard lets himself become ill.

                There was a time in Eobard’s life when he lived to kill the Flash. Traveling through time all those years, searching for the Flash’s time period. All those years he spent fighting the Flash for various reasons, usually boiling down to “I hate you.” He had been so sure that killing the Flash was the right thing to do. Not the right thing for humanity or the future, but for himself. The Flash had broken him. The Flash was his enemy. The Flash had to be destroyed. Time and time again, the Flash thwarted his efforts. Time and time again, he never seemed to learn that the Flash would always come out ahead. When he realized he could kill the Flash before he has become the Flash, well, that became the new plan. No more fighting, no more running, just killing. Pure. Unadulterated. Murder. And then it all went wrong. Now he was stuck in this time. He was stuck in a wheelchair if he were to ever go out in public. He was stuck in this cell until Team Flash decided what to do with him. He was stuck without Jesse. All because of the Flash. No. Because of his choices, his obsession. He was a genius from the future, but, these days, he was convinced he knew nothing.

                He passed his days locked up rather quietly. Cisco set up remote monitoring equipment should he even think to escape, but he stayed put. It was rather helpful to know that the team wasn’t always watching; it made what was happening inside him easier to hide. He didn’t belong in this time and his stabilizing issues had resurfaced. He couldn’t access the Speed Force properly, but his body still tried to rid itself of the intruding nanites. It made sense, the nanites were germs disrupting what was now normal and they were killing him; the only option was removal through vibration using his speed. He fought it, the natural reaction he had to the nanites, but it was becoming more difficult with each passing day. He kept this to himself until it was forced out of him.

                The day started like any other day. Eobard was given breakfast and a few books to pass the time. He stayed quiet in a corner of the cell and Cisco didn’t question it. At one PM, Cisco arrived as scheduled and prepared to give Eobard his daily dose of Big Belly Burger when he noticed the speedster wasn’t waiting at the door, practically bouncing like a child as usual. He was sitting in the same corner of the cell, his breakfast and books untouched and he looked pale, almost bloodless. Cisco hit the panic button, and, had he had super strength, he would have broken it into tiny pieces. Barry was there a few seconds later, dressed for a fight. When he saw Eobard slumped in the corner of his cell he visibly calmed himself.

                “Cisco, what happened?” Barry asked.

                “I don’t know,” Cisco replied. “I came down this morning like always, gave him breakfast and some books so his brain wouldn’t rot and when I came back with lunch he was in the exact same spot only he looks… dead. I’m afraid to go in there, man, what if it’s a trick?”

                “I got it.”

                Barry walked into the cell as calmly as possible. He was ready for a fight, but he didn’t want Eobard to feel as if he were backed into a corner. Barry took off the glove on his right hand and touched Eobard’s forehead. He was absolutely boiling. A quick check of his pulse revealed a steady, but weak heartbeat.

                “He’s sick. Like, really bad,” Barry said. “Call Caitlin, I’ll get him set up upstairs.”

                “Can you do that?” Cisco asked.

                “I can’t do IVs or anything, but I can get him ready. Call Caitlin. And call Joe, too.”

                “On it!”

                Caitlin brought Jesse with her, which would have bothered Eobard had he been conscious. It was almost sad. After stabilizing Eobard, Caitlin gave the team a report. Cisco, Barry, and Jesse gathered in the small room where Eobard lay attached to various machines. Jesse sat on the spare bed with Cisco standing behind her and Barry standing next to her.

                “I’ve got him stable, but I don’t know for how long,” Caitlin told the team. “As we’ve learned, Thawne isn’t from this time and, after testing, his ability to access the Speed Force has been in a steady decline. Right now, his body is trying to reject the nanites blocking his access to the Speed Force. It’s killing him.”

                Barry and Cisco remained silent. They wouldn’t have anything good to say if they did speak.

                “So, he’s going to die?” Jesse asked quietly.

                “Unless we remove the nanites, he will die. I’m so sorry Jesse,” Caitlin replied.

                “Wait, why hasn’t he just vibrated them out?” Jesse asked. She looked at Barry. “He’s done it before.”

                “You think he’s keeping them in?” Barry asked Jesse.

                “Yeah, I do. Think about it,” Jesse said softly. “He can vibrate them out, he just hasn’t.” She bit her lip. “This is my fault.”

                “What? No, Jesse,” Caitlin said.

                “We shouldn’t have had you inject the nanites,” Cisco said, his voice tinged with regret. “This isn’t your fault.”

                “I told him I wished he was dead,” Jesse stated.

                “I’m pretty sure we all have, Jesse,” Cisco quipped. “It’s still not your fault. How about you go to the cot room and rest a bit? We’ll come up with a plan to save your dad.”

                Jesse shot him an incredulous look over her shoulder.

                “I promise, Jesse,” Cisco said sincerely, “we will save your father.”

                “Come on, I’ll go with you,” Caitlin said softly.

                Jesse nodded and hopped off the bed. Cisco and Barry exchanged looks as Caitlin guided Jesse out of the infirmary and through the Cortex.

                “Are we really about to save the guy who murdered my mother?” Barry asked, mostly to himself.

                “Yeah,” Cisco replied quietly. “I think we are.”

                Barry sighed. “Let’s get to it then.”

                “Yep.”

                They worked through the night on a solution. Eobard’s vitals dropped at a steady pace as they worked, but finally Cisco came up with a temporary cuff that could easily be attached to Eobard’s ankle. All they had to do now was get the nanites out of his body. Easy peasy. Hopefully. Cisco called Jesse into the infirmary once he had cleared the plan with the rest of the team.

                “Okay, so, we don’t keep blood on hand, but you’re a match for your dad so we’re going to need just a little bit of your blood, like a pint or two. It should be enough to get him conscious again and then he can vibrate the rest of the nanites out of his body and we’ll slap this cuff on him and it should be good.”

                Jesse looked at Barry who nodded and smiled the least convincing smile she’d ever seen, but she nodded back. The loss of blood made her woozy, but it was comforting to see her father’s face pinken again. Well, it was comforting until he bolted awake and out of the bed in a burst of red lightning. He fell to his knees in front of the main desk of the Cortex. Barry calmly walked after him, followed by a wobbly Jesse and Cisco.

                “Cut it out, Thawne,” Barry said calmly.

                Eobard sighed. He was awake again. He was almost happy about this development.

                “You could’ve said something, you know,” Barry said.

                “Jesse,” Eobard said quietly, “Jesse wanted me to die. It’s easier without the constant reminder.”

                “Yeah, well, she gave you the blood to save your life so I’m not sure that’s the best argument to make right now, Thawne,” Barry shot back.

                Eobard finally looked up. He did a double take when he spotted Jesse staring at him. She looked out of sorts, but determined at the same time.

                “We’ve come up with a way to keep you in line without nearly killing you this time. I’m seventy percent sure,” Cisco said.

                He looked to Jesse for confirmation. At her nod he breathed a sigh of relief. He could never undo what he had done, it would change the timeline far too much and Time Wraiths were a real and ever present danger, but at least he had earned a little faith from his daughter. That’s all he could really ask for. He closed his eyes and let the Speed Force flow through him. The nanites fell from his body like so much refuse. His hold on the Speed Force waned, but he enjoyed it for the moment, letting his eyes glow red and his body spit and spark red lightning before allowing it to putter out and disappear. Without a word, Cisco slapped the temporary cuff on Eobard’s left wrist before skittering back behind Barry.

                “I don’t bite,” Eobard snarked.

                “No, but you do stab people in the chest and squeeze their hearts,” Cisco shot back.

                Eobard simply huffed. “Thank you, Cisco.”

                “Anything to keep you from murdering more innocent people.”

                “Hey, Jesse, can you take him to the cot room for the night?” Barry asked Jesse, ignoring the two bickering in front and behind him.

                “Yeah,” she replied softly.

                Eobard happily allowed Jesse to escort him to the cot room. He was even happier when she sat next to him.

                “I don’t know if I can forgive you for the horrible things you’ve done,” Jesse said quietly.

                “I don’t expect you to,” Eobard replied.

                “Just… stop doing stupid things. Use that genius brain you say you have and think before you act. Okay?”

                Eobard nodded. “Okay.”

                “Good. Now get some sleep. I’m sure it’s easier to sleep on this cot than in your cell and the cuff has remote monitoring for your health and otherwise. I’m going to head home. I have like three essays to write by the end of this week.” Jesse made to leave.

                “Thank you, Jesse,” Eobard said, “for everything.”

                “You’re welcome. I’ll talk to you later. Get some sleep.”

                He slept wonderfully that night. What a difference a day made.


	6. Zoom Zoom Boom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harrison Wells from Earth-2 makes his appearance. Zoom shows his face and routes Eobard out as the most murderous speedster around. Eobard starts on the path toward not being as much of a bad guy.

                He warns them several times that things will not stay calm for long. Not only that, but there have been people lurking around S.T.A.R. Labs. He’s spotted them on the cameras the others insist that he take down, but he refuses. He’s far too paranoid to stop monitoring the city. He can feel it in his bones, something is about to happen, something big. Around the time Barry spends an afternoon yelling at him and attempting to take down his cameras another Harrison Wells appears.

                “Oh, look,” he says, “I was right. This is bad, Allen.”

                “Shut up, Thawne,” Barry replies.

                “You need to listen to me, Barry.”

                “The one thing I need to do that involves you I can’t do because Jesse would end up fatherless.”

                Eobard rolls his eyes. “You’re so dramatic.”

                As it turns out, this new Harrison is here for a reason. The metas Barry has been busy fighting are being sent here through trans-dimensional breeches by an evil speedster who went by Zoom. He found the name uninspired, but if Harrison found him a threat it was credible. Suddenly he finds himself without a place on the team. Cisco barely looks at him as it is, but now he’ll enter the workroom they once shared, call him Harry, then leave when he realizes it’s the wrong Harrison. But he’s not Harrison. Yes, he has his face and his body and his memories and raised his daughter, but he’s not Harrison Wells. He’ll never be Harrison Wells and Wells has no problem reminding him of that fact. In fact, none of the team has any problem reminding him just who he is and how much worth he has to them. Worthless. He throws himself into his newest project: modification of the tachyon device. If Barry was going to face this Zoom character, then he would need to go faster and tachyons were the key. Besides, he needs the tachyons to stabilize his connection to this time and the Speed Force. The only person on this damn team that talks to him for any significant period of time is Jesse and she’s got better things to be doing, like having a life and finishing her majors and starting grad school. He doesn’t take Zoom seriously until it happens.

* * *

 

                There are few moments in life where a person can pinpoint when exactly they fucked up. Eobard has found very few of these moments in his life both pre and post speedster abilities. This particular moment stands out as a major fuck up. He’s saving Barry’s life because no one else seems to be paying attention to the fact that Zoom just broke Barry’s goddamn back! There’s the small matter of the bracelet on his leg dampening his access to the Speed Force, but that’s a trifle and he’s pretty sure that ankle will heal in a few hours. It’s completely fine, he’s got an ass to kick and he’s got one completely good foot to shove right up Zoom’s blue lightning having ass. And he has the advantage. At first. Then it all goes to hell.

                There’s a moment when a fuck up can be somewhat rectified. This is not one of those moments. Not for Eobard. There are no do-overs in a speed fight. When Zoom blocks Eobard’s speed punch he knows he’s fucked up. Badly. In short order, Zoom shows him just how badly. First Zoom breaks his wrist. It’s painful, but he can power through that. He’s been hurt worse before. Zoom’s fast, though, and he’s on his back with Zoom looming over him before he can blink and he can blink pretty fast these days.

                There’s a moment when Death is making its list and, in those moments, there’s half a chance of survival. Eobard had never been on the receiving end of one of his (his, dammit) patented chest stabs. And Zoom had claws. Claws! What kind of speedster had claws? The drag on those alone – he’s definitely in shock. Most people would be if someone had phased their hand into their chest cavity and grabbed onto their right lung. Yes, the right lung because, in the moment that Death checked its list the second time, Eobard was free enough to speed shift his upper body mostly away from Zoom’s lunging death hand. After this, he would only sever spinal cords. Only if absolutely needed. Like if he needed to kill someone.

                There’s a moment when someone shows they care for you even though you’ve been a huge dick and you also murdered them in another timeline that your best enemy fixed accidentally on purpose. God, he needed to teach Barry about time traveling before he unraveled the universe. Again. Idiot boy. Cisco stares down at him. Was he speaking aloud? And the room is very blurry except for Cisco. Cisco kneels down next to him, gently cups one hand behind his neck and uses the other to remove the speedster’s cowl. This tickles Eobard. He giggles a bit, obviously losing his damn mind, but it draws a kind of laugh out of Cisco and it’s almost worth the strange feeling of his lung being shredded inside his chest. Almost.

                There’s a moment when Eobard is completely honest and it doesn’t hurt him as much as he thinks it will.

                “You could’ve escaped,” Cisco says quietly. Cisco, bless him, can’t really do anything for a shredded lung and Barry’s the one that needs the medical attention right now.

                “And don’t you forget it,” Eobard replies.

                “It was the perfect opportunity.”

                “It passed like so many before it.”

                Cisco’s laughing again and it’s like a concerto in Eobard’s head. He closes his eyes and Cisco, bless that boy, shakes him a tad roughly. Eobard croaks out an “I’m fine,” but doesn’t reopen his eyes. He’s tired. That’s all. The moment he wakes up will be the true test. He just wants to touch the Speed Force again. Without it being life or death. Because that would be boring. And he hates boring. Almost as much as he hates Barry. Or loves him. It’s complicated.

 

* * *

 

                He hated thinking about that time despite the fact that it was less than a week ago and he was back in his wheelchair, rolling around S.T.A.R. Labs racing Barry around some of the cleaner levels. Barry still hated him and he didn’t blame the kid at all. Jesse spoke to him when she needed to or when she was too emotional to care that he was a murderer and had ruined Barry’s life and made him think no one would help him get justice for his mother and get his dad out of prison. Perhaps Cisco was right. Perhaps it was time to atone for his sins. He could never erase what he had done, but, perhaps, just perhaps, he could make things as right as possible. First, he’d start with apologies. Perhaps Cisco first. Ease into the apologizing game. Nice and easy, Eobard. Nice and easy.


	7. Cisco

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard attempts to speak with Cisco.

                Eobard hums a solemn tune as he limps his way through the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs cane in hand. Barry is already healed and back on his feet at full speed and bullheaded as ever. He’s not. They let him sit quietly, heavily monitored with a pulse rifle pointed at him at all times by a more than eager Harrison Wells – the absolute bastard – for one twenty-four-hour period. That’s all they gave him to heal. He argued it would take twenty-six uninterrupted hours, but no one was on his side. Jesse made herself scarce and Harrison Wells would have been more than happy to shoot him in the mouth. For a brief moment he thought Cisco would say something, anything, but the younger man looked away. And he kept looking away. He refused to make eye contact with Eobard at any time. Eobard tried talking to Cisco as he had resolved to do so, but he was dodged at every turn. It felt very personal.

                Eobard continues humming. It’s a warning, really, that he coming and whoever doesn’t want to see him or talk to him should run. They’re so jumpy lately with this Zoom and this Jay Garrick and this Harrison Wells. He finds Cisco alone in his workshop and politely knocks on the doorframe. Cisco turns and, for the briefest moment, there’s a smile on his face. Then he remembers who Eobard is and his brave mask is back on.

                “Oh, hey Thawne,” Cisco says dispassionately. It takes everything within him not to frown at Cisco’s use of his last name.

                “Hi, Cisco,” he replies. “I wanted to talk to you.”

                Cisco’s on his feet and moving toward the door as quickly as Eobard can blink. And he blinks so slowly these days.

                “I don’t have time for you, Thawne. I’ve got to go talk to Harry. Ya know, the _real_ Harrison Wells in my life?”

                His words burn a path through Eobard’s sore chest.

                “I am sorry, Cisco,” he says quietly. “There were so many times I considered stopping. Gideon kept count, but I –”

                “Yeah, we _get it_ , Thawne,” Cisco snaps. “We weren’t worth shit to you. You killed me in another timeline because I found out your secret. You don’t need to keep rubbing it in.”

                “That wouldn’t have been why,” he murmurs.

                “Then why? Why’d you kill me?” Cisco’s voice is so small, so hurt and pleading. _Release me_ it begs.

                “You – from what you’ve told me – you offered to help,” he says. “I would have – Cisco, you would have been broken. Corrupted.” He looks at Cisco then. The soft boy. The hard man. The curious child. “I couldn’t let that happen. For all you say I hate you, I loved you enough to keep you safe.”

                “By killing me,” Cisco says stiffly. “That’s some bullshit, Thawne. You don’t – that’s not how you solve problems. You’re sick, you know that.”

                “Yes, and it’s infectious.”

                “Shut _up_. Just – whatever, fuck your apology. I don’t – I can’t – you can’t expect me to – _you can’t expect anyone to forgive you for what you’ve done_.”

                Truth. It burns more than Zoom’s hand in his chest. It aches more than his healing ankle with its itches and unsure foot underneath. He nods at Cisco, slowly turns, and leaves, humming that sorrowful tune as he limps his way assisted by cane. A waylaid Speedster. A man out of time and home. He would have been better dead.


	8. Grodd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard continues to be pushed out of Team Flash.

                Eobard lingers in the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs like a wraith lingers in the dark of night. The team has all but replaced him with their shiny new _real_ Harrison Wells. They call him Harry to his face and Grumpy Cat behind his back. They keep his favorite coffee in stock while promising to order Eobard that one specific blend he likes. They never do. They repurpose his office so Harrison can have the privacy the cot room lacks, privacy Eobard is no longer afforded. He’s shuttled and shuffled out of the way as much as possible. No one listens to him; they all talk over him when he speaks. His ideas are worth less than nothing to them. So he stops. He stops trying to talk to them, he stops asking for his favorite blend of coffee, he stops hoping things will ever change. It would have been a kindness to keep him locked in the pipeline.

                It’s not until Caitlin is kidnapped by Grodd that they suddenly remember he’s still lingering like a shadow in the dark. All they want is his suit. They have the file on Grodd, they have Harrison to pretend to be Eobard. They don’t need him. They never needed him. They send Cisco to ask him. Anger burns at his throat like the worst heartburn when he realizes what Cisco wants. It’s not him. It’s _never_ him.

                He pulls off his ring and tosses it to Cisco. It’s the end.

                “You mind if I study the tech in here?” Cisco asks.

                He looks up at Cisco. They’re in the middle of the cot room; Eobard feels safest in the middle. There are twelve cots total, each with a thin mattress, a thin cover blanket, and plain white sheets. He misses the day bed in his office. The blue walls, the space. This room is small, crammed with cots, and painted a dull beige. It’s not meant to be lived in, it’s meant to be rested in, but he finds no rest here in S.T.A.R. Labs.

                His gaze lingers before dropping to the floor. False marble, white and grey, a common pattern for businesses. Cheap and easy to maintain. There are scuffs from shoes past, ghosts of the feet of men and women who will forever walk the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs the ghosts of another time. They’re his only companions.

                “You can try,” he replies, his voice low and strained. He watches Cisco scuff his feet as he shifts his weight uneasily from foot to foot. “If you have questions, you can ask Gideon.”

                He wants to look up. He wants to see Cisco’s face, but he can’t gather the strength of mind or body to do so. His shoulders hunch a little more each day. And what did he expect? A hug? A pat on the back? His scoff makes Cisco jump, but he doesn’t excuse himself. He’s not used to company these days.

                “I could just ask you,” Cisco murmurs and Eobard’s not sure if he’s awake.

                Eobard finds the strength to pull his eyes toward Cisco’s face. Cisco shifts from foot to foot under his heavy, examining gaze. The way Cisco twitches, looks away then back again, his chest barely moving enough to take deep, cleansing breaths – he’s nervous.

                He nods. “You know where to find me.”

                Cisco looks down at his hands and plays with the ring. “Uhm, we could actually use your help with Grodd, too. Harry says he’ll go, but it’s really risky.”

                _You need fodder_ , he wanted to say. _You don’t want your precious Harrison Wells to get hurt or worse, but I’m another matter_. He almost declines.

                Barry takes off the cuff. He makes his threats and Eo knows they’re not idle threats. He wouldn’t leave Jesse alone to deal with the fallout if he escaped. He doesn’t respond to Barry’s threats, just stares at him. Barry almost hits him.

                Finding Grodd is easy work with Harrison and Cisco’s assistance. It makes sense that Grodd would move from the sewers where the team knew he was to another place, a quiet place. Grodd is happy to see him at first. Happy that his father has come to visit him. Soon there will be _more_ of him, an army for Father to rule this planet. He doesn’t want that. Cisco pulls Caitlin to safety while Grodd rebels against his Father. Why didn’t Father love him anymore? Why did Father betray him like this? Why Father why!? He scrambles Grodd’s brains with an overdose of those stimulants the meta gorilla had hoped to use to raise an army of meta gorillas.

                He doesn’t remember much after that. There were stairs and lights and someone was pulling his arm, talking to him, trying to get him to respond. He’s dead on his feet. They set him up in a medical bed as soon as they get back to S.T.A.R. Labs. The smell of medicine, that strange mix of death, pain, sweat, and medicine, the softness of the bed, the people moving around him – he knows where he is, but he wishes he were home. Home.


	9. Long Live the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard is recovering. Barry talks to him at his bedside. Jesse provides quiet comfort.

                The first things he sees are the halogen lights above his bed in the small medical bay. They’re fuzzy, almost cottony blurs pressed into the ceiling. He blinks a few times to clear his vision. It doesn’t help. He turns his head to the side when he hears a sigh. He knows that sigh. He hates that sigh. He hates the person who sighed.

                “I don’t get you, Thawne,” Barry says from the chair next to him.

                What’s to get? What’s to understand? Eobard doesn’t reply. There’s no need to. Allen can’t possibly understand the hell he put Eobard through. He can’t. It wouldn’t click in that tiny mind of his that _he_ is the problem and Eobard is the solution. Yet Barry still lives and he will never see home again. _Home_. He had been so close, but _Barry Allen_ broke their deal. He could have returned and let Eobard leave, but _no_ he had to be the **hero**. How’s that working out for you now, Allen? Hm? How’s that working out for you now!?

                “Is your vision blurry?” Barry asks.

                Eobard is tempted to keep his mouth clamped tightly shut.

                “Yes,” he says. His voice is raspy, as if he hasn’t had water in days.

                “Caitlin said that might happen. I didn’t really understand the why,” says Barry.

                Of course you didn’t, thinks Eobard. You’re an idiot.

                “It’s just weird,” continues Barry. “I’ve finally got you. I _finally_ found the man who killed my mother, but I can’t _do_ anything about it. Again! I could keep you locked in the pipeline, but that’s not real justice, that’s just – it’s hollow. That’s all I felt when you were down there. Hollow.”

                Eobard says nothing. He stares at the blur that is Barry Allen for a long moment before twisting his face back toward the ceiling. At least he took that from the Flash. Small victories for massive prices. It would keep him warm at night.

                “I bet you felt the same way,” says Barry. “You finally had the Flash after all those years, but you couldn’t reveal yourself too early. You still had to teach me how to be the Flash in order for you to get home, but if you taught me too much – but you did, didn’t you. You taught me how to phase and that’s when I realized all the things that were off about you added up to one thing: you were a speedster like me. Was the game fun for you? At least tell me it was fun, Thawne.”

                “Fifteen years,” he replies. “A match one sided that long, it gave me no pleasure. Yes, I knew every aspect of your life, how to trigger your fits of rage, your tears, your self-doubt. I learned how to _use_ you like the pawn you were. Have you ever seen a pawn take a king?”

                “No. Can that even be done on the board?”

                “You’ve seen it. Our game is done, _Flash_. Long live the king.”

                Barry grumbles something, but Eobard doesn’t care. The boy has been a thorn in his side for so long and he’ll never be quit of him. That was always the risk, wasn’t it? Failing again. He could only plan for so much, think so far ahead, even with Gideon’s glimpses into the future, well, the past to him. And her being a creation of Barry Allen, oh, that was fun to overcome. There were times when his paranoia became so great, he refused to use Gideon for anything. He wouldn’t ask questions for weeks at a time. His notes would be quietly recorded for months where she could not access them, but they were still secure. Eventually he would input everything into her file storage system for the sake of ease, but his paranoia was never eased by this. So many things could go wrong and if future Barry caught wind of his plans or, potentially, a Barry from another timeline (Barry can’t keep himself from creating and abandoning multiple timelines and to hell with the consequences, the idiot boy). Too much. It was all too much. His plans lived and died on the back of Barry Allen and, as always, they died. Barry kept him from going home. _Again_.

                “You killed my mom, Thawne,” says Barry. His voice is low and grave. “I’ll never forgive you for it, but I think there’s some part of you that’s still good. Redeemable? I don’t know. I do know that you raised Jesse and you helped with our Grodd problem so you’re useful. That’s it. Maybe someday, I can forgive the face you stole. For Harry’s sake. Even if he is rough around the edges.”

                “Shut up, Allen.”

                And he does. For once, Barry Allen listens to Eobard Thawne and shuts his annoying mouth. They sit in silence until Jesse returns to the Labs and takes Barry’s place. She’s quiet and kind and puts his glasses onto his face. He thanks her, adjusts them, then falls asleep. He always feels safer when she’s around. He feels grounded and, perhaps, for a moment, like he’s home.


	10. The Game's Afoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard puts the puzzle together for Harrison. Zolomon takes Eobard's saving grace.

                Eobard heals quickly, as any Speedster should. The team continues to work around him and without him. Their shiny new Harrison Wells continues to be prickly and combative at times, but, well, he hadn’t murdered anyone’s mother and he hasn’t betrayed anyone. Well, that’s what the group thinks. The truth of the matter is that he is working for or with the Speedster who calls himself Zoom. Hah! He’s no Zoom. However this _poser_ came across that name, Eobard will take it back. _He’s_ Professor Zoom, not this strange lightning’ed idiot prancing around Earth-2, murdering people because he can. He had no plan, it’s obvious. He even chose a weak target. Harrison Wells is _nothing_. He’s a weak man with weak morals and no sense of self-preservation. Yet the team trusts this self-destructive man explicitly. Idiots. Always unaware of what is happening right under their noses. It’s almost as if they don’t pay attention to the greater world around them.

                When Jay Garrick disappears for what seems to be the fiftieth time, Eobard becomes suspicious. Not that he hadn’t been to begin with. His sudden appearance, his stalking of Allen, it all points to a dangerously obsessed man. Yet this group of idiots is _fine_ with this because this Garrick can teach Allen speedy tricks and plays nice and heroic, but he reeks of rotten goods. The saying must be true: it takes one, to know one.

                Eobard finds Harrison in Cisco’s workroom. _Harry,_ they call him. Wells is good enough. He steps into the room and he can _feel_ the tension ratchet up. At least he’s on his guard.

                “You need a bell,” Wells says, voice low and gruff. It’s a very annoying affect.

                “You need a throat lozenge,” he shoots back. “What do you know about the man who calls himself Jay Garrick?”

                Wells moves from one corner of the room to the next.

                “Enough.”

                Eobard scoffs. “Hardly.”

                “What do you know about Jay Garrick?”

                “I know more than you, obviously, but I need to know what you think you know. It seems no one on your Earth doubts this Garrick’s stories, though they are obviously full of holes. Where did he come from?”

                “He’s from Central City,” Wells replies. He moves to another corner, opens a door, and pretends to be very interested in the contents. Eobard doesn’t care.

                “He’s a little young.” Eobard moves to the middle of the room. Cisco loves this room. Always has, even before it was just his.

                Wells looks up. Eobard stays still in the middle of the room, looking at everything and nothing all at once. He can feel Wells thinking from here. Are the pieces of the puzzle finally connecting?

                “I’ll tell you this, _Harrison_ ,” Eobard says. “The man who claims to be Jay Garrick is not Jay Garrick. The timeline hasn’t changed that much.”

                Eobard leaves Harrison to think on what he’s said. That should be enough to get Wells into looking for _who_ they’re dealing with, even if it’s to prove Eobard wrong, but he knows he’s not wrong. He has seen Jay Garrick’s face, knows when Garrick got his powers and how. This false Garrick, and he is a false Garrick to be sure, will be outed soon enough. Perhaps the team will begin listening to him again.

* * *

 

                It’s worse than Eobard thought possible. He had no way of knowing beforehand, of course, that this Jay Garrick was a convicted serial killer by the name of Hunter Zolomon. No, _Wells_ should have known that. He all but bragged that serial killers were an anomaly on his Earth. He should have known. He could have prevented _this_. All this son of a bitch wanted was _speed_. He didn’t care _how_ and if he had to kidnap another Jesse to get it then so be it.

                The Cortex is quiet. Wells’ heavy boots make no noise as he paces back and forth. The silence would be amazing if not for the thick air. Barry, dressed in his Flash suit, is standing near the main desk, but staring at the screen displaying Zolomon’s data. Cisco’s quiet, but he won’t look at Wells _or_ Eobard. Eobard sits at the main desk. What now?

                “We must work quickly,” Eobard says finally. Every head in the room turns toward him. “Wells, get the speed siphoning device you’ve been working on in secret ready for deployment. Cisco, swallow those feelings and help Wells.” He looks Barry dead in the eye. “Allen, you’re with me. We need to get you faster and we have at most twenty-four hours, at least twelve. You’re with me. We’re going to the Vault.”

                “We can’t give him my speed!” Barry says.

                “We’re not, we’re giving him mine.” The silence is deafening. “Move, people. We don’t have time for you to be staring in slack-jawed awe. Lives are on the line here. Let’s go.”

                He’s going to kill Zolomon for this.


	11. The Sacrifices We Make

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eobard gives up what makes him the Reverse Flash. Jesse is a Speedster. Barry thanks Eobard. Eobard looks to the sky for answers.

                Eobard leads the way to the “Time Vault.” It’s a stupid name, but the children recognize it. It was never a vault to him, just a room with his tools in it. A workroom, if he’s generous. Barry still asks why his handprint can open the door. Eobard still refuses to answer. It appears Allen hasn’t taken anything Gideon has told him seriously and Eobard is beginning to doubt Barry is Gideon’s creator after all. He may have had the idea for her, perhaps even sketched her face – it _does_ look a bit like Iris West – but there’s no way this idiot of a man-child created Gideon on his own. She must really be Cisco’s creation.

                Eobard stares at the naked mannequin for a long moment then moves beyond it to the far side of the room. His slides his fingers along the bumps in the wall in a pattern Barry would never understand. He could replicate it, yes, but he wouldn’t understand the meaning behind the code. He never understood the meaning behind anything Eobard did.

                The wall silently slides open. There, on a rack of bits and bobs from his time and oddities from this time, sits the tachyon device he stole from Tina McGee. He can hear Barry exclaim behind him. Oh, yes, he had replicated the technology with the help of his future bits and bobs, but he never bothered to use the damn thing.

                “What’s the plan for this?” asks Barry.

                “Tachyons and the speed equation are the key for this temporary boost in your speed,” he replies.

                “Speed equation?”

                “The key to the Speed Force. Unlike Zolomon and his need to force doors open with questionable chemical methods, this is the way to safely unlock your potential. One boost from this will last you three days of normal speed usage. This should be enough to take you where you need to go.”

                “Where am I going?”

                Eobard turns and smiles. “To the end of time itself.”

* * *

                Zolomon wants to watch. For a man like him, it makes sense. He killed people because he enjoyed the suffering he caused, the ritual. He enjoyed watching the stories fly across the vertical screens and off shelves on printed paper. And what’s another victim? And, of all victims he could have the pleasure of watching suffer, a victim like Eobard Thawne; a man who almost unlocked the darkness within, but stayed just far enough out of the vault to stay mostly sane. It’s almost too bad, but, then, evil doesn’t enjoy company or competition.

                No one says a word to Eobard as he marches to the treadmill. He looks out of place in his Reverse Flash suit as he stands on the treadmill’s track. It had always been Barry’s treadmill. Only Barry had run on it for the others to see. Eobard had used it as well. It was nothing to wipe the data from the memory banks, but he had to test his speed recovery rate or, in his case, loss somehow. Harrison gives him a curt nod once he’s in position. It’s time to run.

                The machines kicked on as Eobard runs. He can feel the Speed Force draining from him. It’s as if he’s slowly bleeding to death. They have one shot at this. As soon as Zolomon sucks in that extra speed, Barry must move faster than he’s ever moved in his entire life, faster than when he traveled back in time, and he can’t stop for anything. He must take Zolomon to the end. The end of everything. Once he’s gone, once the Speed Force has taken him, balance will be restored.

                Eobard slips. He falls onto the speeding treadmill and is shot across the room into the wall behind him. The thud is deafening. His eyes squeeze shut. He can’t breathe. He gasps for air. His heart freezes in his chest. For one glorious moment, he sees home behind his eyelids. For one glorious moment, he’s at peace.

                No one in the treadmill monitoring room moves until the air currents in the room die down. Barry and Zolomon are gone. _Poof_. Just like that.

                Harrison runs into the treadmill room first. Eobard’s on his stomach in a familiar heap. He may have passed out, Harrison doesn’t know or care. He just wants to shake the other man. In all their planning, they forgot to find out where their Jesses were being held. Dammit. He almost kicks the pile of a man on the floor. They’re both idiots.

                Caitlin follows Harrison after taking a moment to compose herself. She’s by Eobard’s side, poking and prodding him for his vitals and general wellbeing while Cisco takes his time entering the room. Betrayed by another Harrison Wells. Isn’t that just swell.

                Before anyone can speak, there’s another blast of air accompanied by a silver streak of light.

                “Dad!” says one Jesse, happy to see her father in one piece.

                “Dad!” says the other Jesse, clearly distressed that her father is on the ground.

                Harrison rushes to his Jesse, scoops her up, and spins her around as he did when she was much smaller. She’s dirty and giggling like a loon, but she’s whole and safe and – wait, which one brought them here? He sets Jesse down.

                “How?” he asks.

                “Jesse,” his Jesse replies. “She’s a Speedster. Do you think –?”

                “No,” Harrison replies with a swift shake of his head. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

* * *

 

                Eobard is moved to the small medical bay after it’s determined that he is stable, if unconscious. Jesse waits by his bedside as she always does. It’s strange knowing that this man raised her after killing her parents and stealing her father’s body. She hasn’t asked him _how_ he stole another man’s body, especially when there are remains of Harrison Wells tucked away in cold storage. Will that poor man ever get a proper burial? She shakes her head. Such silly thoughts for such a serious matter.

                In truth, she cannot reconcile the two. Eobard is a living, breathing Schrödinger’s cat: both Harrison Wells and Eobard Thawne. She’s seen peeks of the Harrison under the Thawne and faced the Thawne under the Harrison many times. It’s clear Eobard believes himself to be Eobard, untainted by Harrison Wells, but it’s also clear that Harrison Wells’ personality – what she could glean from Harry – and time have tempered the man into an entirely different person. He is a man with two foundations, both seemingly at odds with the other. He is cold and calculating, yet warm and thoughtful. Perhaps she’s complicating matters with her emotions, but, no, she doesn’t feel that is the case. Something made him _different_. He mentions other timelines in passing and says things that make her think that, yes, he is dead somewhere, some _when_ else. He doesn’t mention her when he speaks of these other timelines, these other Earths. Did he kill her? Did she exist in the first place? She could ask Gideon, but, then, the pain from doing such a thing – no; she was better off not knowing. She was better off living in the now, in the moment, on this Earth, in this time, in this version of her life story.

                Movement from the bed draws her attention away from her thoughts. Her – god what is he to her now? – he’s waking up. It’s still strange that her conditioned response is to consider him her father or to call him “dad.” Another time, Jesse, she reminds herself. Another time.

                Eobard’s eyes slowly open. He may as well just live in the damn medical bay with how much he continues to wake up in this tiny room.

                “Barry isn’t back yet,” Jesse says. He jumps slightly at her words. How long has she been here? “Do you know when to expect him?”

                “What time is it?” he asks.

                “Three-thirty.”

                “Six. Six more hours and he will return. If he does not, he has failed and we have no way of reaching him.”

                Wouldn’t it be ironic? Barry Allen killed by the Speed Force. The very thing he opened the door to in this time. Gone. Just like that. It’s cold comfort.

                “What’s going to take him so long?” she asks. “You never did explain your plan to the rest of us.”

                “I won’t do so now, Jesse,” he replies. He keeps his eyes trained on the ceiling. Stucco paneling. Looks like little stalactites. “If it becomes important enough to reveal before his return, I will, but not until that moment. If you do not reveal your plans to the Universe, they may succeed.”

                “That’s nonsense.”

                “Is it?”

                She didn’t have a reply.

* * *

                Zolomon doesn’t want to go quietly into that dark night and the Speed Force isn’t helping matters at all. It’s almost pushing Barry back, forcing him to fight harder and run faster. It can’t want this, can it? Does it think? Does the Speed Force have a will? That would be enough for Cisco, but it’s not for Barry. The Force isn’t real, anyway.

                Barry continues running against the Speed Force’s will. The pressure increases with each footfall. Go back, it says, go back and take him with you. This is not the way. But it _is_ the way.

                Suddenly, images appear around Barry. It was like this when he traveled back in time to prevent his mother’s death and – and let her go. Again. He sees Eobard die from an arrow through his heart. He sees this Zolomon he’s dragging behind him killing his father in the same place Eobard killed his mother. He sees Iris leave town. He sees Earth-2 rebuild. He sees Eddie die in the line of duty. He sees everything, every timeline, every possibility, every future that could be theirs. He sees eternity itself and knows he has reached the end of time. He throws Zolomon like he’s throwing lightning and watches in awed silence as he’s torn apart by time. Vitality is sucked out of him, leaving a husk much like the body of Harrison Wells. Then he’s ash and dust and lost to time; the end of time. The Speed Force rears up then blasts Barry backwards through time and space, back to where and when he belongs.

                _The timeline has been disrupted enough for now, Barry Allen._

                Barry appears in the middle of the Cortex, unsure how he got there. One thing is very clear: he knows nothing about the Speed Force, time travel, or how any of this works. If he wants to learn, he’ll have to play nice with Eobard. The prospect puts a sour taste in his mouth. At least Eobard didn’t have his powers anymore. That’s one less thing to worry about. The image of Eobard being shot with an arrow flashes across his vision. And that’s one more thing to worry about. Great.

 

* * *

 

                Eobard stays in the medical bay while the rest of the team gathers in the Cortex to wait for Barry to appear somewhere in S.T.A.R. Labs. _Anywhere_ in S.T.A.R. Labs. Wells and the detective gave the usual threats, but his response was so lackluster they gave up after a few minutes of glaring. How kind of them.

                Oddly enough he _feels_ Barry traveling through the Speed Force the second before he arrives in the Cortex. Considering he no longer has access to the Speed Force – it doesn’t matter. The whooping in the other room is deafening. Yes, the hero returns having defeated the evil, evil villain _and_ they solved their problem with Eobard having access to his speed. A double victory for Team Flash.

                He sits up. How can a man from the future be a relic of a by-gone era? Might as well be evil Jay Garrick.

                He hops off the bed. Purpose served. The Reverse Flash defeated. They’ll celebrate long into the night while he molders in a corner somewhere.

                “Hey, Thawne!” Barry calls from the Cortex.

                He turns to face the Cortex.

                “Thank you,” Barry says. “I mean it.”

                He inclines his head. The fan of the Flash in him is quietly amazed that the Flash – _The Flash_ – thanked him. Him! The Flash. Thanked. HIM! He moves into the doorway and looks at the people gathered in the Cortex. They were once his team. Cisco, happy, but nervous. Caitlin, still stiff if smiling. Barry, ever the hero.

                “You’re welcome,” he replies. “Flash.”

                He leaves them to their celebrating. They’re young and high on helping and winning. They’re good kids despite all the bad. How amazing it must be to still have hope. At least the stars and cool air of the night will keep him company. He’d give anything to run with the wind again.


End file.
